District/School Administration Administration
The Massachusetts Board of Elementary and Secondary Education

Briefing for the May 20, 2008 Regular Meeting of the Board of Elementary and Secondary Education

The next regular meeting of the Board of Elementary and Secondary Education will be on Tuesday, May 20, 2008, at Oxford High School in Oxford. The meeting will start at 9:00 a.m. and adjourn by 1:00 p.m. Coffee will be available at 8:30 a.m. If you need overnight accommodations or any additional information about the schedule, please call Belinda Wilson at (781) 338-3118.

Overview

We are meeting at Oxford High School in honor of Zachary Tsetsos, who in June will conclude his elected term as chair of the State Student Advisory Council and as a member of the Board of Elementary and Secondary Education. Superintendent Ernest Boss, Oxford High School principal David Grenier, and other local officials will welcome the Board. Our agenda for the May meeting includes an update on the Randolph Public Schools, initial discussion of the District Plans for School Intervention submitted by nine districts that have Commonwealth Priority Schools, and approval of grants.

Regular Meeting

Comments from the Chairman

Each spring, it is traditional for the Board Chairman and the Commissioner to thank the outgoing student member for his or her year of service. Zachary Tsetsos has served with distinction as the chairman of the State Student Advisory Council and as a member of the Board for the past year. He will continue through June, when the State Student Advisory Council will elect his successor. We thank Zachary for his commendable service to the students of the Commonwealth and wish him great success in college and beyond.

Chairman Reville will also brief the Board on current issues and activities.

Comments from the Commissioner

1. Proposed state budget for FY09. The Senate Ways and Means Committee is scheduled to release its proposed FY09 budget on May 14th. We will keep all Board members posted on the budget proposal for education as the process continues.

2. U.S. Department of Education. Secretary Margaret Spellings visited Massachusetts on May 6th. Chairman Reville and I met with her, and Dr. Chester joined us by telephone. Also on May 6th we got word informally from representatives of the U.S. Department of Education on our proposed graduation rate standard as well as on our proposed changes for AYP reporting rules for 2008. (In January 2008, the Board adopted the following standard as the 2008 Adequate Yearly Progress (AYP) graduation target for the state's high schools: a four-year graduation rate of 60 percent, or a five-year graduation rate of 65 percent, or a two percentage point increase in the four-year graduation rate compared to the four-year graduation rate for the previous year. The inclusion of a five-year rate and an improvement rate reflected the work of the Board's Graduation Rate Taskforce.) The U.S. Department of Education representatives indicated that the Department was reluctant to approve our use of the 60 percent four-year rate for 2008 AYP purposes, but may grant approval on a one-year basis. They also indicated that the Department would approve the two-percentage point improvement rate, but that the federal agency would not approve the use of a five-year graduation rate for all students. We are pursuing this and one other AYP reporting matter relating to special education with the U.S. Department of Education and should have additional information by the June 24th Board meeting.

3. Transition. This is my final Board meeting as Acting Commissioner and Mitchell Chester's first as Commissioner. It has been an honor to serve the Board and the students of the Commonwealth as Acting Commissioner for the past nine months. Thank you for your faith in me and thanks to all of my colleagues in the Department for their tremendous support. The Department's staff and I look forward to working with Commissioner Chester and the Board in the vital next phase of education reform.

Items for Discussion and Action

1. Update on Randolph Public Schools - Discussion

   In November 2007, the Board voted to designate Randolph Public Schools as an underperforming district. In February 2008, the Board voted to accept my recommended actions and benchmarks for Randolph. The Board further voted to defer action on the question of chronic underperformance and state receivership for the district for 120 days, with the understanding that the Department would appoint a District Support Team to work with local school, municipal, and community leaders to define actions to be taken over the next 24 months and to assist in a community-wide, consensus-building effort. Our District Support Team, chaired by former Malden superintendent Joan Connolly, has prepared a progress report. Associate Commissioners Juliane Dow and Lynda Foisy will be at our May meeting to respond to any questions Board members might have about activities in Randolph. Representatives from Randolph will present their Turnaround Plan to the Board at the June meeting for discussion and possible vote.

2. Districts' Plans for Commonwealth Priority Schools - Initial Discussion

   Last month the Board received a report on the work of the State Review Panels that have been reviewing the District Plans for School Intervention submitted by districts that have Commonwealth Priority Schools. The panels make recommendations to the Commissioner and the Board on the adequacy and viability of each plan. This month we are bringing to the Board the recommendations from the panels on plans from the nine Commissioner's Districts: Boston, Brockton, Fall River, Holyoke, Lawrence, Lowell, New Bedford, Springfield, and Worcester. The panels recommend that the Board approve all nine districts' Plans for School Intervention.

   Your materials include a summary of the review process and an overview of crosscutting issues the panels have identified, as well as the findings and recommendations as to the plans from each of the nine districts. The Board will have an initial discussion at this month's meeting, assisted by Juliane Dow and Lynda Foisy. At the June meeting, we will ask the Board to either accept, reject, or direct changes to each of the districts' Plans for School Intervention.

3. Approval of Grants - Vote

   Presented for your approval this month are grants totaling $2,339,130 under two state funded programs: Transportation Routing Software ($400,000) and Adult Basic Education (ABE) Program and Staff Development Regional Support Centers ($1,939,130). The first set of grants is funded from current year (FY08) funds. The ABE grants would be funded from FY09 funds. Since the FY09 state budget has not yet been enacted, the motion for the Board's vote on these grants is contingent on the appropriation. Even though these grants will not be funded until the start of the new fiscal year on or about July 1, we are proposing that the Board vote on them this month in order to provide some stability for programs and staff in the ABE support centers, which depend almost entirely on grant funding. We have reasonable assurance that the funding will be available, based on the level of this line item (7035-0002) in the House budget. I recommend that the Board approve the grants as presented.

Other Items for Information

4. Education-Related News Clippings

   Enclosed are several recent articles about education.

5. Directions to the Meeting

If you have questions about any agenda items, please call me. I look forward to seeing you in Oxford on May 20th.